I didn't see the plot twist coming. I figured the guy that admitted to murder was guilty. The was kind of cool that they had machinery to do surgery like http://www.intuitivesurgical.com/products/.

Amnesia

11-04-2011, 06:35 AM

I didn't think the husband was guilty---I thought it was the traitor bar guy. I was really shocked to see him in the room with the female soldier...

loubob57

11-04-2011, 06:50 AM

The son is really thinking with the wrong head to agree to an unspecified future favor to the enemy leader. How is that not going to bite you in the ass?

Anubys

11-04-2011, 06:55 AM

I didn't think the husband was guilty---I thought it was the traitor bar guy. I was really shocked to see him in the room with the female soldier...

I agree about the husband. When I saw Wash (I think that's her name), I thought she was a traitor; so that was a big shock to me. I was relieved when it was not true.

The son is really thinking with the wrong head to agree to an unspecified future favor to the enemy leader. How is that not going to bite you in the ass?

This is so convoluted. I was 17 once and my penis made a ton of decisions for me. But this is such an easy decision! why keep the secret from your dad? tell him everything! be a double agent and you'll still get your girl (happy penis) and sleep easier at night to boot.

cheesesteak

11-04-2011, 07:25 AM

Why's the son even thinking about his old girlfriend when he's got a nice hottie who likes him at Terra Nova?

Anubys

11-04-2011, 07:37 AM

Why's the son even thinking about his old girlfriend when he's got a nice hottie who likes him at Terra Nova?

I think the one back home had bigger breasts :D

jschuur

11-04-2011, 07:46 AM

Why's the son even thinking about his old girlfriend when he's got a nice hottie who likes him at Terra Nova?
I'm pretty sure 'I arranged for you to travel back in time' sex is way freakier.

tiams

11-04-2011, 10:53 AM

Tera Nova is a disappointment to me. It's not about time travel, it's not about ancient times, it's not even about dinosaurs. It was obvious this week that it is nothing more than a procedural with a gimmick. There are enough "crime of the week" shows already.

Anubys

11-04-2011, 11:21 AM

Tera Nova is a disappointment to me. It's not about time travel, it's not about ancient times, it's not even about dinosaurs. It was obvious this week that it is nothing more than a procedural with a gimmick. There are enough "crime of the week" shows already.

They can't have every episode be about the primary arc.

morac

11-04-2011, 11:50 AM

They can't have every episode be about the primary arc.

With only 13 episodes per season, they pretty much have to. Especially considering they haven't really mentioned it since the 2nd episode.

NetJunkie

11-04-2011, 12:00 PM

With only 13 episodes per season, they pretty much have to. Especially considering they haven't really mentioned it since the 2nd episode.

Exactly. Why not? Why can't we have a show with 13 episode seasons tell a story arc? That was the original intent of Lost and others but networks keep messing it up and wondering why shows die.

Anubys

11-04-2011, 12:11 PM

I don't think they went into it thinking it would be a 13 ep season. All shows with a main story arc have stand alone episodes. Why would this one be different?

Such episodes serve functions. They develop a character in some way. We now know the judicial system in place, for example. We see how advanced their medical tech is...etc. All these things may or may not play a role in the future and serve the main arc in some way we don't know yet.

Rob Helmerichs

11-04-2011, 12:40 PM

I don't think they went into it thinking it would be a 13 ep season. All shows with a main story arc have stand alone episodes. Why would this one be different?
No, this was intended as the first half of season one, and the second half wasn't picked up (because they couldn't have gotten it ready in time if they waited for ratings to decide).

I'm not sure how much they took into account the possibility that there would not be a back half when writing...

Anubys

11-04-2011, 12:44 PM

No, this was intended as the first half of season one, and the second half wasn't picked up (because they couldn't have gotten it ready in time if they waited for ratings to decide).

I'm not sure how much they took into account the possibility that there would not be a back half when writing...

how many of the 13 have aired so far?

Vendikarr

11-04-2011, 12:47 PM

No, this was intended as the first half of season one, and the second half wasn't picked up (because they couldn't have gotten it ready in time if they waited for ratings to decide).

I'm not sure how much they took into account the possibility that there would not be a back half when writing...

When the schedule was released in May, Fox released a fall and winter/spring schedule. Terra Nova was only scheduled to air in the fall. Alcatraz airs on Monday in the second half of the season. Because of the expense and production time for an episode they only intended to air 13 this season.

Whether or not Fox airs a second season is in the air, but I don't see it as likely.

tiams

11-04-2011, 12:47 PM

how many of the 13 have aired so far?

Bylaw was episode 6.

tiams

11-04-2011, 12:57 PM

Genesis parts 1 and 2 were the pilot.
"Instinct" was the episode about the flying pterosaurs.
"What Remains" was a House episode in disguise about the medical mystery of the cold remedy.
"The Runaway" was the little girl from the sixers.
Then "Bylaw"

This isn't even as entertaining as Land Of The Lost. Of course, LOTL was awesome!!!

scandia101

11-05-2011, 11:03 AM

They can't have every episode be about the primary arc.With only 13 episodes per season, they pretty much have to. Especially considering they haven't really mentioned it since the 2nd episode.

Isn't that contradictory? If they have to, but haven't for 3/5 of the aired episodes, then they don't really have to because they already haven't.

morac

11-05-2011, 11:04 AM

Isn't that contradictory? If they have to, but haven't for 3/5 of the aired episodes, then they don't really have to because they already haven't.

And the rate they're going they won't advance the main plot at all.

tiams

11-05-2011, 11:35 AM

And the rate they're going they won't advance the main plot at all.

My problem is that there really isn't an interesting main plot. There's no storyline dealing with the puzzles inherent in time travel. They explained it all away by saying they are in a different time stream that cannot affect the future they came from. So that's the end of any time travel plot.

An interesting show may have been how they managed to build a new civilization and society and survive on Earth 85 million years ago. Instead, they have this complete village right out of the box complete with all the technology, social structure, economy, etc. Boring.

They aren't even going outside the walls of Terra Nova to explore this great new Earth. That's like if The Enterprise staying docked in one place.

morac

11-05-2011, 11:54 AM

They aren't even going outside the walls of Terra Nova to explore this great new Earth. That's like if The Enterprise staying docked in one place.

You mean something like Deep Space 9?

RGM1138

11-05-2011, 12:00 PM

I wonder if "murder by dinosaur" is on the their laws books yet?

:p

That Don Guy

11-05-2011, 05:36 PM

They can't have every episode be about the primary arc.
Pardon me for asking, but what is "the primary arc"?

Tera Nova is a disappointment to me. It's not about time travel, it's not about ancient times, it's not even about dinosaurs. It was obvious this week that it is nothing more than a procedural with a gimmick. There are enough "crime of the week" shows already.
I don't think it's "crime of the week" so much as "a family drama with a strange gimmick" - think No Ordinary Family but with dinosaurs instead of superpowers.

Anubys

11-05-2011, 06:03 PM

Pardon me for asking, but what is "the primary arc"?

The main story. It starts slow, build up, then winds down. I assume the main story here is the time travel mystery and the competing factions about what it means and where it leads (sixers and the settlers). Even in monster of the week episodes, there is always something that builds the characters a little and some minutes are devoted to the main story. In this case, it was the reveal that the leader of the sixers can communicate with the "normal time", have some control who comes through, and the asking of the favor.

jschuur

11-06-2011, 12:10 AM

Pardon me for asking, but what is "the primary arc"?

It seems to be two things, which are likely rolled into one: Why/how were the Sixers sent back and what's the actual purpose of the whole Terra Nova project. In a recent episode, Mira seemed to suggest that there's a different reason than the survival/reboot of humanity in the past, and on the forum here, there's been some ideas kicked around as to wether they're actually in the past or whether we're in a new timeline that couldn't contradict the future.

stellie93

11-06-2011, 11:59 AM

The sixers communicating with home in "real time" is one thing, but how can they get his girlfriend on the list? I assume she tried to come when he did and was refused. What kind of power do they have to reach out randomly and get someone on this I assume exclusive list?

jschuur

11-07-2011, 02:08 AM

The sixers communicating with home in "real time" is one thing, but how can they get his girlfriend on the list? I assume she tried to come when he did and was refused. What kind of power do they have to reach out randomly and get someone on this I assume exclusive list?

Keep in mind that the Sixers managed to all come across during the Sixth Pilgrimage together somehow in the first place. That's sign that they have some kind of high level support 'back home', or at least have infiltrated whoever is putting the pilgrimages together enough to influence the list.

tiams

11-07-2011, 08:15 AM

Keep in mind that the Sixers managed to all come across during the Sixth Pilgrimage together somehow in the first place. That's sign that they have some kind of high level support 'back home', or at least have infiltrated whoever is putting the pilgrimages together enough to influence the list.

Did all of the people who came over in the sixth pilgrimage defect and become part of the outsiders called "sixers" or just some of the people from that pilgrimage?

Anubys

11-07-2011, 08:18 AM

Did all of the people who came over in the sixth pilgrimage defect and become part of the outsiders called "sixers" or just some of the people from that pilgrimage?

That's what I thought. But in the previous episode, the guy in charge said that about half of the Sixers are still in the main camp.

allan

11-07-2011, 10:15 AM

And the rate they're going they won't advance the main plot at all.

That actually might be a good thing. If the main plot had been advanced more, we'd probably end up with the show canceling on a cliffhanger. This way, we have several weeks of mildly interesting dino-of-the-week shows with nothing important hanging when the show gets axed. :p

That Don Guy

11-07-2011, 01:31 PM

The sixers communicating with home in "real time" is one thing, but how can they get his girlfriend on the list? I assume she tried to come when he did and was refused. What kind of power do they have to reach out randomly and get someone on this I assume exclusive list?
You're making the assumption that the portal is the only known way of getting back to the past.

Even if there is only one way back to the past, remember that there are two ways to get into Terra Nova - either by being recruited, or through some lottery (they even showed a "Terra Nova Lottery" ticket, or congratulations/acceptance letter, in this episode; I think they teased that the originally accused man was in a "marriage of convenience" because either he or his wife had been picked in one of the lotteries to get into Terra Nova). Perhaps the Sixers can either find a way to rig the lottery or persuade whoever makes the recruiting decisions that the girl's family is needed somehow.